In the New Hollywood Economy, the old-school, "Back Dumptruck Full of $1000 Bills into Julia Roberts's Driveway, Release Load, Hope Movie Breaks Even After Home Video and Cable Sales" formulas just don't apply anymore. That's why Forbes has now begun ranking movie stars according to value, as opposed to only their Gross Celebrity Product. A simple algorithm calculating how many box office dollars they've pulled in per dollar earned reveals some surprising results.
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Forget soliciting film columnists and Oscar bloggers for their cutting-edge awareness of the latest awards-season hopefuls. The future is in liquor -- movie-branded liquor in particular, led today by news of Godfather Vodka, distilled in Italy for a flavor you can't refuse™. (Actually, I think I just made that up; ping me for licensing arrangements, Paramount.) Never mind that an Italian vodka sounds about as intuitive as Dr. Zhivago Chianti: Studios are pinched and willing to leverage their brands however they can. And really, why not curate a section of your local bottle shop the way your video store gathers Oscar-winning fare in one convenient location?
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Afghan Star, Havana Marking's documentary about an American Idol-style singing contest that captured the hearts of the country, really couldn't come along at a better moment. As the threat of a resurgent Taliban increases steadily, it puts an extraordinarily human face on the victims of the escalating violence and nightmarish civil rights abuses in that region. Unfortunately, since it screened on U.K. TV this year, that disqualified it for competition in the Documentary category at this year's Oscars. But all hope is not yet lost -- the film is taking an unusual route on the way to awards season, as it's been submitted as the U.K.'s selection in the Foreign Language Film category.
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The creators of Gossip Girl are no strangers to some carefully plotted-out controversy, and the news that an upcoming episode will feature three characters in bed with each other suggests that the show isn't backing off of its mission statement anytime soon. Still, while this hypothetical threesome is certainly eyebrow-raising, it's almost quaint compared to what could currently be found today on basic cable or any of the pay channels.
Therefore, Movieline thought it was time to compile a tribute to some of the most scandalous sex scenes (with video!) that network TV has ever gotten away with. The only criteria for making the list? Well, it's right there in the title: it has to involve actual sex (a controversial kiss is insufficient) and it has to have aired on one of the big broadcast networks. Here are six scenes that came to mind immediately:
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The trial of two Bahamians accused of trying to extort $25 million from John Travolta took an unintentionally hilarious turn Tuesday when Travolta's beleaguered lawyer resorted to shouting lines from A Few Good Men. Michael McDermott couldn't weather an attack by a defense attorney who yelled, "I suggest, Mr. McDermott, that you sought to give birth to an extortion plot but it was stillborn," so he replied as any high-powered Hollywood attorney would: "And I suggest that you can't handle the truth!" The courtroom erupted into laughter; the judge, no doubt channeling Men's formidable Hon. Julius Alexander Randolph, quickly restored order. [NYDN]
· It's probably too easy -- and maybe even inaccurate -- to accuse Adrien Brody of taking the path of least resistance after hearing of his commitment to Predators, Robert Rodriguez's '80s franchise reboot for Fox. Reports say Brody and his agents lobbied hard for the chance to rebrand him as an action star; as the lead in the story of an elite paramilitary squad hunted by some human-devouring alternaspecies, this might accomplish that. But surely when he heard that Topher Grace was also just confirmed to co-star as "an accountant-type whose unassuming facade masks a dangerous serial killer," the project took the kind of batshit experimental turn that Brody just wants to see to believe. So do the rest of us; it's scheduled to open July 6, 2010. [THR]
Samuel L. Jackson tries something Different, Universal orders a double for Isla Fisher, and more Hollywood Ink after the jump.
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· I'm not sure whose idea it was to make a YouTube montage dedicated to pictures of an oft-barechested David Caruso looming over terrified women, then eating their faces (and scored to Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl," because why not), but I would be lying if I said it hasn't transfixed half of the people at Movieline HQ today. Next up in YouTube montages nobody ever asked for: a tribute to character actor David Paymer scored with "Sex Bomb" by Tom Jones, and a "slashfic" video featuring Martin and Eddie from Frasier (with Nine Inch Nails' "Animal" blaring in the background). The strangely compelling clip, after the jump:
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What is "Hollywood," anyway? Is it simply a dot on a map? A town with a sign in the hills? Is it that town and all the lives, work and idiosyncrasies it comprises? Is it the idea of that town, or the idea of those lives and work? Is it an abstract institution leveraged a million ways from Sunday by politics, money, disloyalty, ambition, vice and more? Can it be all these things we've come to know, love and loathe it for, and yet still surprise us?
Oddly, if there's any long-term crisis to be resolved in the Roman Polanski Culture War, it's this one: Hollywood's identity. And once we've decided all of this, can we relate to Hollywood? Do we even want to? In an angry, defensive, and not entirely misplaced essay today at the L.A. Times, one screenwriter says yes.
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While David Letterman's admission of interoffice romances may have wreaked havoc on his personal life, the extortion scandal paid off ratings-wise again last night. During the first taping since the Late Show host delivered his bombshell to 5.8 million viewers last Thursday, Letterman opened the show with a self-effacing monologue, transitioned into heartfelt apologies to his wife and staff before shifting focus to his guests, Steve Martin and Martin Short. Last night's episode yielded a 4.2 rating which trumped any show in NBC's prime-time line-up. [Associated Press]
· Daft Punk is pulling double duty on Tron Legacy: In addition to composing the soundtrack, they'll be cameoing in the movie (not that you'd ever know it).
· Bethenny Frankel is not leaving Real Housewives of New York to film her spinoff. What is her spinoff about? According to her, she has no idea.
· Beyonce has finally spoken out about Kanye West's VMAs brouhaha: "Well, I knew his intentions, and I knew he was standing up for art...And when he walked on the stage, I was like, 'No, no, no!' and then he spoke, and I was like, 'Oh, no, no, no!' But in the end, it ended up being a great night, and Taylor Swift did get her moment -- and I didn't have to make an acceptance speech."
· NBC Mondays are hurting, with Heroes continuing its fall and lead-out Trauma dropping 18% from last week.
· Hey People, how are you going to open an article about a freaky accident where a plane crashed into an SUV? "With comedy stars like Brooke Shields and Jim Belushi aboard, even a plane landing can be funny." Gold star!
It was a rough four years for Tom Cruise, tarnished by one media scandal or another while he conspicuously started a new family and failed to revive an old studio. But if his laying low this year didn't return things to relative normal, then maybe his well-received impromptu visit Monday to Harvard Law School will finally be the gesture that restores his public touch.
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In what will undoubtedly take the cake as being the most disturbing viral marketing campaign for any movie this year, Tyler Perry, in a recent message on his website, described the first time he watched Precious, and how it opened a spigot of repressed memories from a childhood wrought with unthinkable abuses. "I'm tired of holding this in," he wrote. "I don't know what to do with it anymore, so, I've decided to give some of it away..."
Among his memories:
· The time his mother tried to escape with his two sisters, but since she took a car registered in his father's name, he had her arrested and had all three thrown in jail. He bailed them out in California and beat his wife in front of the kids for the entire trip back to Louisiana.
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That was Universal president Ron Meyer's short explanation of the changeover that shook his company Monday, when co-chairmen David Linde and Marc Shmuger were sent packing while Adam Fogelson and Donna Langley were promoted. "We needed to get back on the horse riding in the same direction," Meyer added, acknowledging that his departed duo didn't manage the stress of Universal's recent losing streak very well. But contrary to some reports, the embattled Shumger made at least one powerful friend along the way: "I think he's going to have a lot of good will wherever he goes," said Michael Mann. "I don't dislike him at all. In fact, I like him a lot. He always had a lot of good ideas and was a stand-up guy." [TOH]
There's good news and bad news this morning for Roman Polanski. The bad news: A Swiss appeals court rejected his first bid for immediate release. "We continue to be of the opinion that there is a high risk of flight," said a justice ministry spokesman. The spokesman added, much more surprisingly, that the U.S. government has yet to formally file an extradition request for Polanski; the Justice Department has 60 days to send along its paperwork, which the Swiss government does expect to receive in the near future. Polanski will remain in jail, meanwhile, as his appeals process continues. But now, the good news!
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In a textbook case of the blind leading the blind, Oscar maven and noted critical pushover Pete Hammond reported Monday that he's been advising Academy members having difficulty sorting through the early awards-season crop. It turns out that some voters are too bewildered by the Academy screenings currently on offer, especially with their new ballot demanding 10 Best Picture nominees. There's just nothing big enough! For some reason they've turned to Hammond, who, in fairness, has a point in suggesting that Jennifer's Body (no matter how underrated) probably isn't Best Picture material. But in doing so he takes down a few other perfectly fine smaller films that he hasn't even seen, let alone heard of.
On one hand it's Oscar business as usual. On the other, there's no reason we can't break the cycle here at Movieline -- starting now.
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